Elon Musk declared early Monday on X: 'Next year, I will give one of my SpaceX shares to every kid in America. This will be the first of many.'

Business Insider reports the pledge is worth roughly $10.5 billion at current prices, based on about 72 million U.S. children under 18 and SpaceX's Friday close of $146.

Musk owns roughly 4.77 billion SpaceX shares, about a 36% stake worth just under $700 billion, so the gift would trim his holdings by about 1.5%. He offered no details on timing, eligibility, or mechanics, and CNBC notes SpaceX has been contacted for comment.

The announcement landed just hours after Anthropic pledged to commit 5% of its shares to a new public benefit fund. Musk replied on X, 'I recommend giving the shares directly to the public,' then added, 'This is what I will be doing' — and delivered the SpaceX pledge overnight.

TechCrunch notes the gift equals roughly 1% of his estimated net worth, and when an X user described the pledges as the start of universal basic income, Musk corrected it to 'universal high income.'

Business Insider values the pledge at about $10.5 billion using 72 million children and the $146 Friday close, noting Musk's net worth stood near $904 billion per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

CNBC, citing an August SEC filing, puts his holdings at 4.8 billion shares — 6.4 billion with unvested awards and options, a 48.4% beneficial stake. TechCrunch describes the same holdings split as roughly 849 million Class A shares and more than 5.5 billion Class B supervoting shares.

Either way, the giveaway is easily affordable from his stake.

The pledge fits a growing wave of gifting shares to America's children.

According to Business Insider, the Trump administration launched tax-advantaged Trump Accounts this summer with $1,000 federal seed deposits for children born 2025–2028, and the Dells gave $250 to 25 million children's accounts — a $6.25 billion gift.

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell and her husband pledged shares to more than 2 million children in July. TechCrunch adds that a majority of Musk Foundation money has historically gone to entities tied to Musk, making this a notable shift toward direct public distribution.

LiveNOW from FOX reports Musk did not say how the distribution would work, how eligibility would be verified, or how shares would be transferred — possibly into Trump Accounts. Business Insider notes it's unclear whether the shares will go into those Treasury-run accounts.

While SpaceX went public in June 2026 and carries a market cap near $2 trillion, moving tens of millions of shares to minors raises custody, tax, and securities questions that Musk has not addressed, and no regulator review has been confirmed.

CNBC reports he is also the biggest known donor of the 2026 midterms, with more than $276 million to Republican groups since July.

Whether the pledge becomes policy depends on details he has not released — LiveNOW from FOX says no date for further details has been given — and on how regulators and SpaceX respond.